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Iraqi Kurdistan: Halabja women victims
complain of neglect
17.11.2007
By Aziz Mahmood in Sulaimaniyah (ICR No. 237,
16-Nov-07) |
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Survivors of the chemical attack say they’ve
received little or no medical treatment.
November
17, 2007
SULAIMANIYAH, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq'
Women who suffered chronic illnesses in the wake of
a horrific chemical attack nearly 20 years ago say
they have been largely neglected.
Of those who survived Saddam Hussein’s chemical
attacks against the town of Halabja in 1988, many
developed ovarian or cervical cancer - and have
since died; or suffer from depression or
psychiatric-related problems. In addition, some
became infertile, while others gave birth to
handicapped and stillborn babies
“I have difficulties sleeping at night,” said
Mahbooha Faraj, a 47-year-old woman who survived the
attack. She now suffers from respiratory and eye
problems, and believes that the attack made her
infertile.
“One of my eyes is getting weak, and I have not been
able to give birth,” she said.
Faraj, like many of Halabja’s victims, has been told
that she requires treatments outside of Iraq, yet no
one has helped her to receive medical aid.
In March 1988, Saddam’s military dropped a deadly
cocktail of mustard gas and nerve agents sarin,
Tabun and possibly VX, on Halabja, a town of about
80,000 people near the Iranian border.
www.ekurd.net
The attack, which occurred at the end of the
Iran-Iraq war killing 5,000 people and injuring
thousands more, is considered the largest-scale
chemical weapons attack against a civilian
population. The US, which supported Saddam during
the war, at first blamed Iran, and later held Saddam
responsible.
Since the attack, only one major study on the
affects of the attack has been conducted - and that
was a decade ago. The health care system there
remains in shambles and few residents have access to
quality basic care, let alone specialised treatment.
Halabja’s medical care is sub-standard by all
accounts. Although the Kurdistan Regional Government
has promised to build a hospital, costing 13 million
US dollars, a building contractor has not yet been
chosen, said KRG minister of health Dr Zryan Osman.
Thousands complain of health problems, including
skin ailments and blindness; aggressive cancers;
severe respiratory problems; congenital
malformations, such as heart defects; as well as
physical and mental handicaps.
Women say they are particularly neglected because
there are few female medical specialists inside or
around Halabja to treat the unique reproductive
problems and cancers which many have.
The Society for Chemical Weapons Victims of Halabja
estimates that around 300 people are in critical
condition. The organisation has no statistics on how
many of those are women.
As a result of its lobbying, the KRG recently agreed
to send 69 patients - about half of whom are women -
to Iran for diagnosis and treatment. Two have since
died, however - both of them women.
Kamil Abdulqadir Waiss, a representative of the
society and himself a victim of the chemical
attacks, said that more studies need to be conducted
to better understand the type and scope of the
medical problems suffered by Halabja residents.
He said that female victims need specialists and
that research must be carried out to measure the
effects the chemicals have had on children.
While many hoped - and continue to hope - that the
US would provide support for the chemical weapons
victims after overthrowing Saddam in 2003, the town
has received little American aid.
Residents protested at the lack of support for
Halabja last year, clashing with Kurdish forces. A
teenage boy was killed during the demonstration and
a monument honouring the victims was burned.
Dr Ako Saeed, director-general of health for the
Sharazoor area, the centre of which is Halabja, said
the lack of research into the conditions suffered by
the victims is the biggest obstacle to progress.
www.ekurd.net
At present, doctors can only speculate at this point
about the links between women’s health problems in
Halabja and the chemical attacks, he said.
“Day after day their health worsens,” he said.
“Their vision is weakening and some of them may go
blind.”
Osman defended the government against charges that
it has neglected victims, saying the problem is a
lack of international expertise.
“There are not many international experts who know
about the effects of chemical weapons, which is why
[the government] has not been able to bring experts
to Halabja to do research,” he said.
As the months and years have passed, many of
Halabja’s women victims have been left to suffer
often agonising pain.
Taban Ali, 38, was pregnant during the chemical
attack. She gave birth to a girl, but has since been
infer-tile. She also has a rash and respiratory
problems - two of the most common health complaints
of Halabja’s victims.
“I wait for death every night when I go to bed,” she
said, pulling up her sleeve to reveal red spots on
her skin.
And her depression is overwhelming. Ali, who lost
her entire family in the attack, said the hardest
thing for her to accept is that her daughter will
never have any siblings.
“I often burst into tears when I think about my
daughter’s life,” she said. “She will spend her life
like me, without brothers and sisters.”
Aziz Mahmood is an IWPR contributor in
Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan region 'Iraq'.
iwpr net
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